Le Soleil
Thursday 20th February 1992
Roy Dupuis in BAHWC - a role which will start people gossiping
<< DIGEST in italics >>
"The good? The bad? I don’t want to get mixed up in these questions because I get lost". Jumpy, Roy Dupuis seems very proud of his role as a homosexual prostitute which he creates in BAHWC, the new feature film by Jean Beaudin, which opens tomorrow at the Odeon. In the absence of the director, Roy Dupuis came to town yesterday to present the film which has everything to start people gossiping.
Para 2,3,4 : about BAHWC being explicit …. Taboo subject …. Profound question about whether it’s another aspect of the eternal history of love or a modern news item about intimacy on the margins of society.
When RD is asked this question in interview he begins by replying that with regards to the cinema, theses and theories don’t interest him. He then admits that the film deals with " a particular environment - the gay scene. And that a country lad isn’t going to be able to speak this language".
RD nevertheless prepared for the shoot by ‘bathing’ in the gay village in Montreal. The impressions that he took away were astonishing, paradoxical. "What knocked me out was the family atmosphere which surrounded everyone. They love a lot … but they bitch just as much. I also felt an atmosphere of death.
Dupuis doesn’t much like long explanations; he was asked to explain this. "From the moment that you can no longer have children, that’s death. If we were all homosexuals there would not be anyone on earth."
Para 7,8 : illustrates the point - killing Claude is tantamount to suicide …. In the posters the ‘L’ in Claude is replaced by a knife…. Took the role because of the script ….. hadn’t seen Lothaire Bluteau in the stage version … "Luckily, I could have run the risk of a block"
From the moment he accepted the role RD chose to ‘serve’. For him, actor rhymes with servant <<well, it does in French >>. "If necessary I will go down on all fours!" This pliability is no doubt a trump card of the young actor who is to be seen everywhere, since Filles de Caleb the television series which made him an instant star. At the moment, thanks to the new series Scoop, his picture remains near the eyes - near the hearts of 2.7 million viewers.
When everything happened, with a bang, wasn’t he afraid? "Yesterday I wasn’t afraid; but today …" he said with an embarrassed smile, passing his hand over his clammy brow and through his curly hair.
Last para : More description of BAHWC. For RD and the crew it was an intensive shoot in the studio - 30 days of 8 - 12 hours per day.